Course Instructors & Facilitators
Below are the biographies of instructors and facilitators from the last year’s Summit. Not all, but many of the individuals listed below will also be part of the 2009 Summit. Additional instructors and facilitators will be announced soon.
Finance Team
Catherine Austin Fitts
Catherine Austin Fitts is a former managing director and member of the board of the Wall Street investment firm Dillon, Read & Co. Inc. Catherine is the former Assistant Secretary of Housing – Federal Housing Commissioner under George H. W. Bush, and was president of The Hamilton Securities Group, an investment bank and financial software developer. She is presently the president of Solari, Inc, an online ethical investment media company, and is the founder and managing member of Solari Investment Advisory Services, LLC. Catherine has designed and closed over $25 billion of transactions and investments to-date and has led portfolio strategy for $300 billion of financial assets and liabilities. Catherine has an abiding interest in helping communities invest locally and sustainably, and is an enthusiastic supporter of this educational project.
Phil Cubeta
Phil currently serves as Chief of Staff for a national financial services organization located in Dallas. In January of 2009, Phil will join The American College in Bryn Mawr, PA as the Wallace Chair of Philanthropy. Phil is speaking as a private citizen. The views presented may not represent those of his employer.
Carolyn A. Betts
Franklin Sanders
The Moneychanger - Franklin Sanders grew up in Memphis, spent two years in the US Army, and attended graduate school at Tulane and the Free University of Berlin. In 1980 Mr. Sanders opened a gold and silver brokerage, and began publishing his newsletter, The Moneychanger. He has written or co-authored six books. In 1993 Mr. Sanders wrote (for Jim Blanchard) Silver Bonanza: How to Profit From the Coming Bull Market in Silver. In 2001 he wrote the Next Great Depression Survival Manual and in 2004 Why Silver Will Outperform Gold by 400%, available from: www.the-moneychanger.come. Franklin has published two audio seminars with Solari, Investing in Silver and Gold Coins and Building Real Wealth. Mr. Sanders lives and also farms with his wife and six of their seven children and ten grandchildren in Dogwood Mudhole, Tennessee, which is not near anywhere else. It is, however, about an hour from Hohenwald and two hours from Catherine in Hickory Valley, Tennessee. Mr. Sanders lives and also farms with his wife and six of their seven children and ten grandchildren in Dogwood Mudhole, Tennessee, which is not near anywhere else. It is, however, about an hour from Hohenwald and two hours from Catherine in Hickory Valley, Tennessee. Franklin will be joining the Finance team at Financial Permaculture for Saturday, October 25th only.
Jason Eaton
Financial Advisor - Jason began his career as an ecologist. After years of work as an activist on social and environmental issues, combined with a few classes on economics, he decided the best way to bring about sustainability was to influence the way money works. Jason’s undergraduate studies were in Natural Resource Ecology and holds a graduate certificate in Environmental Education, both from the University of Idaho . Jason is a Registered Representative and focuses on socially responsible investing, including community investing, micro cap stocks of sustainable businesses, global political economy, and innovative investment strategies for social change. He is joining us from Syracuse, New York.
Anais Starr
Anais Starr is Operations Manager for Solari, Inc. She is very busy working full time with Catherine Austin Fitts! Anais has 30 years’ experience as a paralegal specializing in courtroom presentation and technical graphics. And the same amount of experience in the natural foods industry, having been owner/operator of several successful organic natural foods grocery stores. She lives in Kalispell, Montana.
Susan Johann
Photographer - Susan’s work is part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. She has been seen in a solo show at Condeso/Lawler Gallery in New York and at John Stevenson Gallery in New York’s latest art center - Chelsea. Her photographs are included in private and corporate collections including the Marriott, Bolton-St.John’s and Shaver & Melahn. Susan is a member of Catherine’s Solari Circle, the First Ever Solari Circle and serves on the planning commission in Tryon, North Carolina where she and her husband Dallas moved several years ago from Manhattan.
Permaculture Team
Andy Langford
Andy Langford is co-founder of Gaia University and founder and CEO of The Permaculture Academy of Britain. Andy brought Permaculture to the UK in 1986 and initiated the Permaculture Association of Britain, as well as the Permaculture Diploma WorkNet. He has been active in the European permaculture and ecovillage networks, is a member of the European Permaculture Council, and has served on the European Council of the Global Ecovillage Network. He was recipient of the Permaculture Community Service Award, Permaculture Institute of Australia, 1993 – for outstanding services to the international permaculture community. Andy specializes in land-use matters and action learning educational techniques. His Sustainable Development Initiative in Devon, England was commended as ‘best practice’ in UK Government’s report 1996.
Albert Bates
Director of Ecovillage Training Center and Institute for Appropriate Technology. Mr Bates is a former environmental and civil rights lawyer, author and teacher. He argued environmental and civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and served on the steering committee of Plenty International relief organization for 18 years. He is a major organizer and former board chairman and president of the Global Ecovillage Network. He has taught courses in sustainable design, permaculture and natural building to students from more than 50 nations. His latest book is The Post-petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook, on the transition from abundant cheap petroleum to compelled conservation.
Greg Landua
Liora Adler
Liora Adler is co-founder and president of Gaia University, and serves as an International Advisory Council Member and representative to the United Nations for the Global Ecovillage Network. She is co-founder of two ecovillage projects in Latin America - Huehuecoyotl Ecovillage in Mexico and La Caravana Arcoiris por la Paz, a mobile project, now in its 12th year, and in Brazil. Liora is also currently on the Advisory Board of the Ecovillage Network of the Americas, and specializes in consensus and facilitation training. Liora has focused on the human architecture underlying ecovillages and other social change groups, and has shared her experience and knowledge in over 30 countries.
Ethan Roland
Ethan is a permaculture designer, teacher, and researcher practicing regenerative design from New York to Azerbaijan and beyond. He holds a M.Sc. in Collaborative Eco-social Design from Gaia University, and builds resilience for local and global communities through the ecological design firm AppleSeed Permaculture.
Thomas Hupp
Thomas Hupp has followed a broad based action learning path and carries a diverse set of skills and experience. Educated in business at The University of Colorado, Thomas has experience in organic farming, renewable energy, marketing, and running a satellite communications export company. Thomas is the founder and director of the Leadership School, as well as is a founding member of The Farm intentional community. He has years of training and experience in personal growth skills, and is passionate about studying and sharing the knowledge of the great thinkers of our time.
Jennifer English
Jennifer English, M.S., N. D. is an instructor and consultant in sustainable and healthy lifestyles, permaculture design, and yoga. She has an N.D. in Traditional Naturopathy and an M.S. in Natural Health, a BA in Cultural Anthropology and Environmental Studies, a Diploma in Wildlife Management, a Post Graduate Diploma in Integrative Eco-social Design, and 14 years professional experience leading projects and non-profits in the alternative health and environmental sectors. Jennifer is the Director and Founder of the Center for Holistic Ecology and co-founder of Solar Springs LLC, a permaculture design consulting firm. Jennifer’s areas of specialization include: local economic development, community networks, eco-entrepreneurialism, consumer advocacy and whole ecosystems design.
Matthew English
Matthew English is a bamboo artisan and farmer. He has spent the last 12 years studying bamboo cultivation and utilization (from crafts to construction), natural building, Permaculture and other ecological land-use systems. He is establishing a small-scale bamboo plantation and agroforestry system and offers consulting and workshops in the multitude of appropriate technologies represented at Solar Springs. He has been teaching professionally for seven years. Matthew is the founder of Solar Springs Research Farm and the inspiration behind many of the Center for a Holistic Ecology's programs.
Valerie Seitz
Valerie Seitz has a Masters in Architecture - she studied in Austria and the Netherlands - during and after her studies she focused on green and social aspects of architecture and urban planning - the she worked for the Delft Interfacultary Research Institute and the Department for environMental Design at the Delft University of Technology, NL - later she deepened her experience in Ecovillage Design working for the Ecovillage Training Center in Tennessee, USA - Since 2006 she is involved in Gaia University where she is working as a advisor, developer and graphic designer – Valerie is Co founder of Gaia Southeast a regional node of Gaia University in Tennessee.
Green Incubation
Jonathan Cloud
UN-Environment-Award winning social entrepreneur, community organizer, and lifelong environmentalist, Jonathan Cloud is currently Entrepreneur in Residence at Fairleigh Dickinson University's Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, where he is responsible for creating and managing the Institute's Sustainable Business Incubator program.
Ethanol
Luke Staengl
Luke Staengl is president of Pesco-Beam, an international company converting biomass to bio-fuels, fiber, feed and other high value products. He has led and directed the design, construction and operation of several plants which produced fuel ethanol from corn and industrial wastes. Mr. Staengl is experience with farm scale and industrial biofuel plants. The company has over 50 installations from Australia, Antiqua and India to the USA. Luke was a founding member and served as president of the Virginia Ethanol Association for 8 years. Luke is also an expert in industrial solvent and oil recovery with international recognition in the field of skid mounted solvent recovery systems over a period of 14 years.
Pat Therrien
Pat has been working with Luke for over 22 years, as an ethanol plant technician, solvent recovery plant manager, and project coordinator. Pat also has 10 years experience working as the manager of a seven state rural community assistance program which provided direct technical assistance and support for the development of sustainable and restorative environmentally based economic development projects.
Food and Farming
Robert Waldrop
Robert Waldrop is the president and general manager of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative , the founder of the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House, and the director of music at Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Church. He completed a permaculture design course with Barking Frogs Permaculture, and is a teaching assistant for the Barking Frogs Online Permaculture Design Course. He was born and raised on a farm in southwest Oklahoma. He lives near downtown Oklahoma City, and grows more than 100 different varieties of useful or edible plants on the former lawns of his 1/7th acre house site. He produces bulgar wheat products which he sells through the Oklahoma Food Cooperative.
Eric Wagner
Eric and his wife Christina have been sustainably growing heirloom vegetables for the Athens, Georgia market since 2002. In addition to selling at traditional markets, their farm was also one of the founding members of the Locally Grown Cooperative. This has evolved since then into Athens Locally Grown, which Eric & Christina also manage. Athens Locally Grown is a farmers market where over 60 growers from the Athens area sell through an innovative website that offers many advantages over traditional farmers markets, CSAs, and other buying clubs. The software behind ALG, written from the ground up by Eric, now powers 30 other markets throughout North America. www.locallygrown.net,
www.boannsbanks.com
Builders/Designer/Association/Supply
Johnathan Gonsky
For further information and Questions:
e-mail info@financialpermaculture.com
or call: 888-878-2434 ext 2
Financial Permaculture Social Network
Visit the Financial Permaculture Social Network on Living Mandala to connect with participants from last year’s summit, engage discussions, find information, watch videos, and network with like-minded individuals.
